Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Back to School 2011!

Is it August already??!!! Of course it's August. I've known that for the past 17 days!!! But really...here I go again. Life gets in the way of blogging...blah, blah, blah. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

We actually started school on August 1st! Yes we had our first day of school celebrations and all. It was a fantastic day and the kids had the best time, like always. I won't say that it was easy, as I wasn't ready to start school at all! But I sucked it up, planned as much as I could, gathered whatever materials I had and got to it. The first two weeks were a MESS!! I couldn't find all my materials, our old books were still on the shelves while our new books sat in piles all over our school room. Not only that but our daily schedules weren't set up, my lesson plans weren't organized, the kids' planners were nowhere to be found, and our school room was a disaster.

Sounds like a nice start to the school year, huh? Well, I finally got my act together. Every night last week I stayed up late organizing and planning. It was painful, but now I can say that I'm mostly done! The only thing left for me to do is get our daily schedules done. I have a tentative schedule, but I'm still experimenting on how our days are going to flow best with 4 kids doing school, a toddler, and a baby.

This week we are well into our 3rd week of school and it's going GREAT! Our lessons are getting done, the kids are happy (for the most part), and I can finally find all our books. I'm sure that this year's beginning isn't going to scar the kids. They have been having a wonderful time since our new school year started. Our first day of school traditions helped, of course.

As you may know, every year we celebrate the first day of school with schultutes or school cones that I usually spend a couple of weeks working on. It's like Christmas around here! The cones are full of school supplies, candy, and toys. The kids get to spend half of the morning playing with their treats before officially starting their school work. Check out the celebration!

Thanks for the comments! I actually made the Pokemon characters. I printed the images in black and white and then with colored paper or scrapbooking paper went at it and cut each individual shape out. It took forever!! But they came out perfect!! I also used a little of markers to add the detail to the eyes, mouth, etc. and anywhere else I couldn't find the right color of paper for.

About Me

I'm a wife, mother, and wannabe adventurer. Homeschooling 8 wonderful kids, my days are full of rough-housing and rainbows with our 5 boys and 3 girls. From toddlers to teens and everywhere in between!
We find daily inspiration in the Holy Family and look to Jesus, Mary and Joseph for guidance. Welcome to my world!